Today, consumers own content, such as music, video, movies, etc., in a bewildering array of digital and analog content formats, ranging from VHS tape, phonographs, CDs, DVDs, and BluRay discs (BDs) to various digital file formats stored on hard drives, iPods, iPads, mobile phones, MP3 players, digital TVs with set top boxes, USB memory sticks, compact flash cards, and the like. Unfortunately, this plethora of formats and devices is complicated and makes it difficult for user's to enjoy their content. For example, many users would prefer to be able to have their content consolidated to a single location and used on multiple different devices.
However, commercially available multimedia content is protected by copyrights. The content providers also employ strong measures in preventing pirate copying of media like CDs, DVDs, BDs and other media, etc. This leads to some of the devices of a user unable to read such protected content items stored on optical discs or magnetic disks. Another limitation is that these protection schemes prevent a user from creating backup copies for personal use or for use on a different device.
It is therefore desirable to have a solution for allowing users to aggregate their multimedia content and provide a way for them to legitimately duplicate their content, if desired.